


Soulless

by ItzZaira



Series: Gang or Family? [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crosstale | XTale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), Cross knows more than he lets on, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fate & Destiny, Fate plays with them like puppets, Forced God Of Creation Inktale Sans (Undertale), Forced God Of Destruction Errortale Sans (Undertale), Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Ink is actually really kind, No Incest, No Romantic Relationship(s) - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Red String of Fate, So is Dream, Soulles Cross, Soulless Inktale Sans (Undertale), Souls, The Dark Sanses Got The Star Sanses All Wrong, They're just misunderstood, Worry, no sanscest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-01-02 09:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 14,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21159044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItzZaira/pseuds/ItzZaira
Summary: Cross is soulless. Has been for a while. The gang doesn't know about it though. He doesn't want to worry them. Besides, he didn't want them to hate him...~~~Nightmare is worried. He noticed something is off with Cross. His soul doesn't react to blue magic, he never gets in a "fight", his HP is low, and 2 of his stat facts are hidden. Is Cross sick..?





	1. Worried

Nightmare sat against the dining table, thinking. He felt worried. He was thinking about the youngest in the gang: Cross.

After that accident with Killer, it didn't leave his head. Why were 2 facts hidden? They don't hide unless the owner wants it to be like that.

After that day Nightmare started to notice more things: When fighting his brother, Dream used blue magic, and Cross' soul _didn't react to it. _That is not normal.

Whenever someone wanted to enter a fight, Cross always went somewhere, making sure he doesn't get into the fight. Why?

Cross' low HP also issn't helpfull really. Nightmare didn't understand why he never told them about that.

"Nightmare?"

Nightmare was dragged out of his thoughts, looking at Killer. 

"Yes Killer?" Nightmare asked.

"Are you alright? You kinda spaced out.." Killer said.

Nightmare sighed. "Please don't tell Cross, but I am kinda worried for him."

Killer looked suprised. "You noticed too?" 

Nightmare looked up. "What?" He asked.

"Cross soul doesn't react to anything" Killer pointed out.

Nightmare looked down sadly. "Yeah, I noticed. That is why I am worried. I am afraid he is sick and not telling."

Killer gasped. Cross was sick?!

"But if that was true, why would he hide it?" Killer asked, sounding panicked.

"I don't know." Nightmare anwsered. "But he didn't tell us about his HP either.."

Killer looked down, thinking. "Maybe we should all together ask him what is wrong?" Killer asked.

Nightmare looked up. "No.. maybe it's a better idea to ask Error about sicknesses."

Killer nodded. "Should I tell the others about this?"

Nightmare nodded, going back to cooking.


	2. Error

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare goes to Error for help.

Nightmare stepped through the portal, landing in OuterTale. Nightmare couldn't look for Error in the anti-void, only Error could make a portal to the anti-void, so let's just pray and hope Error was here.

Thankfully Nightmare was lucky: He looked around, seeing Error sit on the edge of a rock, knitting peacefully.

"Hey Error" Nighmare greeted.

Error almost jumped when he heard a voice, ready to attack, but he relaxed when he saw Nightmare instead.

"HeLlo nIchtMarE." Error greeted back.

Nightmare chuckled. "Scared ya?" He asked.

Error just looked at him dead in the eye. 

"Alright, I'm sorry Glitchy" Nightmare said.

Error looked at Nightmare, then smiled. "sO, whAt arE YOu dOinG In oUtertALe?" He asked

"I was searching for you." Nightmare answered.

Error looked suprised. "You cOuldn't wAit for me To gO to tHe HideOuT?" He asked

"Actually.. this is important. I have a question I need answered, and you are the only one who I think would know" Nightmare anwsered.

Error thought for a moment. "SUre, aSk awaY" he said.

"Do you know about soul sicknesses?" Nightmare asked.

Error started coughing, shocked. Nightmare looked worried at Error's reaction.

After some seconds Error stopped coughing, but he was still shocked. "W-whY do yOu w-wAnT to Know aboUt a sOul sIcKnesS?" Error asked.

Nightmare looked down. "I am worried about Cross." He explained.

Okay now Nightmare had Error's full attention. He looked at Nightmare full of shock and worry.

"WHy woulD yoU bE worriEd abOuT CroSs?" Error asked.

Nightmare sighed, then started explaining. "2 weeks ago, Killer accidently hit Cross while sparring. He was injured pretty badly, especially his arm, it was broken. It's nearly fully healed though."

Error looked questionly at Nightmare. "Okay... bUt what doEs that haVe to Do whiT his SoUl?"

Nightmare continued: "when we wanted to check his stats to see the damage, the first thing we noticed that his stats are weak. Stronger then a normal Sans, but his HP doesn't go above 15. His attack and defense are also weak."

Error's eye's went wide with shock.

"That wasn't the only thing though.." Nightmare continued. "2 of his stat facts are hidden. After that I couldn't help but notice, his soul doesn't react to anything."

Error thought for a moment. He wanted to say Nightmare was wrong, but now that he thought about it, he did notice his soul doesn't react to anything.

"W-well, nO..." Error anwsered. "I'm sorrY nigHtmare, I don't kNow."

Nightmare sighed. "Thought I give it a shot." He said.

"..so, noW whaT?" Error asked.

Nightmare looked up. "I don't know." Nightmare admited. "I was hoping you would know."

"Did yOu talK about iT witH croSs?" Error asked.

"No.. I first went to you. Killer is going to tell the others though." Nightmare explained.

Error looked up. "MAybe talK witH Cross togEter with The gaNg." Error sugested.

Nightmare sighed. "I guess we don't have other options."


	3. The gang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killer goes to talk with the gang.

Cross wasn't here. He was on a solo mision for once. Nightmare went to Outertale, to talk with Error. It was now or never.

"Uh.. guys?" Killer asked. 

Dust and Horror looked up from their game. "Yeah?" Horror asked.

"..we need to talk." Killer silently said.

The 2 skeletons looked worried. Killer seemed... nervous. 

They sat down on the couch. Killer sighed.

"Well.. whats wrong?" Dust asked.

"And shouldn't Cross and Nightmare be here if this is important?" Horror asked.

"Nightmare already knows about this, he is talking about it with Error right now." Killer said. "And... Cross isn't here because this is about him."

Both Horror and Dust looked worried.

"Well.. what is it?" Dust asked.

Killer looked down. "We think Cross is sick."

...

"You mean like a fever?" Dust asked sheepishly. "That is nothing to worry ab-"

"I'm talking about his soul."

That made both of them freeze.

"WHAT!?!" Horror said.

"What do you mean?!" Dust asked.

Killer sighed. "Did you ever see his soul glow?"

"...no?" Horror and Dust said.

"Did he ever get into a **fight**?" Killer asked.

"No." Both of the skeletons anwsered.

"Does his soul react to anything?"

"...no."

"See." Killer asked. "Last time in our battle against Ink and Dream, Dream used blue magic, and Cross soul _didn't react to it_."

Both of them looked worried now. Something was wrong alright..

"But wouldn't Cross tell it if something was wrong?" Horror asked

"Remember when Cross broke his arm?" Killer said. "He didn't tell about his low stats. And why were 2 of facts hiden?"

Dust and Horror thought. It did seem logical..

"So.. what are we gonna do?" Horror asked.

"Nightmare is talking with Error right now to see if he knows about soul-sicknesses. If not.. then I guess we need to talk with him." Killer said.

Both the skeletons looked at Killer, then nodded. As on que, a portal opened in the living room, Error and Nightmare entering.

All 3 of them looked at him. Error sighed. 

"SorRy." He said. "I dOn't knoW AnyTHinG." 

"So I'll gues we need to talk with Cross about it.." Dust mumbeled.


	4. Cross

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to have a talk..

Cross was smiling as he jumped through the portal. His mission was getting suplies, like food, clothes and stuff. He even managed to get some yarn for Error!

Cross was happy about the mission. Last time on a solo mision didn't go well, he had gotten noticed by Dream. Though suprisingly, Dream hadn't attacked him, he wanted to talk. Atleast that was until Ink came too and started attacking-

Cross shook his head. No time to think about that, the gang was waiting.

He sprinted to the living room, not only finding the gang, but also seeing Error was with them. Cross smiled brightly.

"Hey guys!" He said, waving. Everybody flinched for some reason, then looked at him with a weird look. Cross decided to ignore it, they probably hadn't expected him yet.

"I got the suplies!" He said, then turned to Error. "And I found some yarn for you Error! For knitting!"

Cross got the yarn out of his bag, and handed it to him. Error seemed surprised, then smilled.

"ThaNk yoU, CrOsS." He said.

Cross smiled. "I will put these in the kitchen!" 

Just when he was about to run, he heard Nightmare call him.

"Cross.." Nightmare said. "After you put those in their places, could you come back to the living room? There is something important we need to talk about."

Cross looked suprised, then smilled. "Ofcourse." With that, he walked to the kitchen.

Nightmare sighed, seeing stress clear on everybody's face.

~~~

**10 minutes later**

Cross walked inside of the living room, seeing everybody waiting for him. Horror first noticed him and coughed. Everybody looked at him, then at Cross. Nightmare sighed. "Sit." He said.

Cross was confused, but sat beside's Killer anyway, waiting for people to tell him what is going on. When nobody was talking, he coughed awkwardly. "Soo... What is going on?"

Nightmare sighed. "Do you remember 2 weeks ago, when Killer accidently hurt you?"

Cross' eye's went wide, and he turned to Killer. "Do you still think I'm mad? Cause I am not! It was an accident!"

Killer smiled sadly. "No Cross, I don't feel bad about that anymore. Yes I know it was not my fault."

Cross sighed in relief. He then turned to the gang. "But.. what is this then about?" He asked.

When nobody gave an anwser, Dust started talking. "When you were knocked out, we, uhh, needed to, _check your stats_, to see how bad the damage is..."

Cross froze, eyelights gone.

...

"..you.. saw, ...my _stats_?" Cross asked slowely.

Nightmare sighed. "Yes Cross, we did. First of, you never told us you only have _15 freaking HP, _but also, 2 of your facts are hidden."

Error took over from there. "AnD we coUldn'T helP But nOTice, wE neVeR sEe yoUr Soul oR aNytHing."

Killer looked down. "We noticed your soul doesn't react to _anything _at all. Blue magic, happyines, a fight, a check. Nothing. Your soul reacts to nothing."

Cross didn't react for 2 full minutes, before his eyelights returned, and he laughed nervously. "W-what are you talking about? My soul is perfectly fine!"

"Last week for expemple." Nightmare said. "You didn't notice Dream using blue magic on you?"

Cross chocked on his own breath. He did?!

The gang noticed his shocked reaction. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Nightmare said. "Care to explain why your soul didn't react to it?"

"M-maybe Dream was low on magic?" Cross asked nervously, desperate to make the gang believe him. He forgat Nightmare can feel his negativity.

"Cross." Nightmare said. "I know my brother, his magic is not weak in the slightest. Even if it was, Ink wouldn't let him battle then."

Concern was clear on his face. "Cross, whats wrong with your soul? Is it sick?"

He couldn't take it.

"N-no! It's not, really, it's not sick!" Cross said, panicked.

"What is it then?" Dust asked.

Cross was trying to stay calm. Oh god, they were going to find out, oh _god_-

Nightmare felt Cross panicking.

"Cross, nobody will be mad." Nightmare said gently. "Just tell us what's wrong so we can help you."

He almost gave in.

_Almost._

Not standing, he quickly teleported away.

"CROSS!-" The gang said, suprised.

Cross teleported to his room, locking it with every lock there was, before sinking onto his knees, and started to sob.

"Well... That went good."

Cross looked up, looking Chara dead in the eye.


	5. Chara

"What do _you _want?" Cross snapped. Chara giggled.

"Aww, come on Cross." Chara said. "Blocking your family out? I'm so proud of you!" Chara pretended to wipe a tear away. Cross rolled his eye's.

"Shut up." He mumbeled, and hide his face with his hoodie. Chara sighed.

"I still don't understand why you like them so much." She said. "You care about them just as much as you care about Pa-"

A knife was pointed at her.

"Don't you dare." Cross said in a low, dangerous tone. "_Nobody _can replace Papyrus. Not even Dust, Horror, Killer, Error or Nightmare. I will never love anybody more then I love him."

"And yet you let Papyrus get killed." Chara said.

"Wonder why he died?" Cross asked sarcastically. "Maybe because of a murderous child who was supposed to be dead? Just a thought."

Chara rolled her eye's. "And yet you replaced him."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did." Chara said. "I mean, you are calling them your _family. _Your family is dead. Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys. All of them are gone. And yet, you replaced your real family with these versions of you."

Cross said nothing. Instead, his hand moved over to his necklace, and he gribbed it tight. Chara sighed.

"You are hiding yourself from them, just like you used to hide yourself from Paps." She said, floathing beside's him. Cross said nothing.

"They can't know about this." Cross said. "They will think I am like Ink. I am like Ink. Heck, he used to be friend!" Cross groaned, and hit his skull with his knees. "They can't know about my soul. They can't know about Ink. They can't know about you."

Cross sighed. "Beside's, I don't want Error remembering he attacked us. He will hate himself for it."

Chara sighed. "Why do you even think you are like Ink?"

"Soulles? No AU? Used to be best friends? No thank you." Cross said.

"At least think about it." Chara said. With that, her form disapeard.

Cross looked at the picture in the necklace, and rested his hands on it. "Paps.." he whisperd. Tears were silently streaming down his face.

"I m-miss you.. so much."


	6. AU swich

The gang had been in shock when Cross suddenly just teleported away. Error was about to go after him when Nightmare grabbed his hand with a tentacle.

"Don't." Nightmare said. "Let him be alone for a while."

"But CroSs dOesN'T l-LikE BEinG a-AlonE!" Error said.

"True there, but still." Nightmare said. "Let him have some space."

The gang hesitated before they sighed, and dropped onto the couch.

A couple minutes later, Nightmare flinched harsly. Yes, he had been feeling negativity from Cross' room. Annoyance and a bit anger mostly. But now it had turned into overpowering sadness and grief. He got up.

"I am checking on him." Nightmare said. The rest of the gang agreed.

Nightmare slowely walked up the stairs, up to Cross room. Once he was there, he knocked. "Cross? He asked. "Can I come in?"

~~~

Cross flinched harsly when he heard Nightmare's voice. He hadn't been expecting him. He didn't get up from the front of the door.

"Cross? Please?" Came Nightmare's voice again. Cross almost wined, but didn't make a sound. He couldn't. Chara came into view again.

"Come on Cross." She said. "Don't be such a crybaby."

Cross rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed at her.

But Nightmare didn't know Chara. All he felt was annoyance.

Nightmare sighed. "...alright, Cross." With that he walked back downstairs.

Cross sniffeled when he knew Nightmare left. Cross needed some time alone. Away from here.

He got up, and got a round orb from his pocket. A teleporter.

Cross could teleport, like any other Sans, but he couldn't make portals to other au's.

But where would he go to? To Ink- no. Ink is not his friend anymore. Ink is now his enemy.

Cross sighed, and putted his hands on his chest. He couldn't feel a soulbeat, just silence. 

Ink had taken his soul at Cross' request. He rememberd it clearly.

Cross' soul had still fragements of X!Gaster's soul. Beside's that it was also both Cross and Chara's. When Cross had met Ink, he and Chara couldn't get along, fighting for control. Ink had helped them get allong.

But.. when Error was lost to insanity.. he attacked them. Him. Cross and Chara. That is when he attacked back. He wanted perfection as the result of when he was done with Error.

His soul was making him like Gaster.

Sooner or later he would end up like him.

When Cross realized that, he had begged Ink to take his soul away. It was dangerous. Very dangerous. A soul with both human and monster, aswell as X!Gaster? That wouldn't end up good.

At first, Ink didn't want to do that. He couldn't do that to Cross! But when he had seen how much pain Cross had been in.. he took his soul away.

Cross wasn't emotionless like Ink. Ink didn't have a soul, which is why he needed the vials. Cross maybe did not have a soul _with _him, but he still had a soul, just at a diffrent place, which is why he could still feel. Though since his soul had been taken away, Cross' emotions weren't as strong as they should be. He needed vials like Ink. But he didn't ask.

And then he met Nightmare. Nightmare made a deal with him, and the rest was history. But when making the deal, Cross didn't know that Ink would be his enemy now.

...

He hated it, but learned to live with it.

Cross sighed at the memories, and though. Where could he go without getting attacked?

...

Nowhere. He couldn't go anywhere.

Cross sighed, and trew the teleporter on the ground, a portal opening to a random au. After that he picked it up, and walked through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What au do you think Cross went to? (Totally not asking cause I have no idea.. not at all!)  
Okay, I do know where I am sending Cross, but I am not sure if it's the right au 😅
> 
> English is not my first language (or auttocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!!


	7. Ambushed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The random au had not been a good idea..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you @CanTour for this idea for the au!!  
Also, wow, way longer chapter then normally!

When Cross stepped through the other side of the portal, he didn't regonize which au he was in. He thought that was good. It meant the gang wouldn't be able to find him.

Cross sighed, and looked around. Where was it the most peacefull?

...

Waterfall.

He teleported.

~~~

Cross was laying at the side of the lake, unconciously playing with the water. It was peacefull. He needed it. Undyne wasn't here for once, so Cross was gonna sit here and relax for as long as he could.

Ofcourse, the peace didn't last long, when Chara suddenly apeared. Cross sighed. "Please.. just a bit of peace?"

Chara sighed, and sat beside's him. "..you know you can't hide this forever, Cross." She said. "They are noticing things. You also messed up by breaking your arm."

"That wasn't my fault!" Cross said.

"No, it was not." Chara said. "But now that they have seen your stats, they will want to know what the other 2 are. I am sure we wouldn't want that, would we?"

...

"...uugh." Chara groaned. "All of you are so stuborn!"

"I'm still a Sans, arren't I?" Cross asked in a sarcastic tone as he closed his eyes.

"..I would still be carefull if I were you." Chara said. "I just hope you know what you are doing."

"Why? You care about me?" Cross asked in a mocking tone. Chara groaned.

"No, not at all. It's just we share the same body and soul and all, blah blah. When you die, I die, and I don't want to die." Chara said, laying beside's him. Cross smirked. He knew better.

"I mean, being this ghosty thing all the time is already bad enough." Chara said. She laid on her side. "Everybody is.. gone. Paps, mom, dad, Asriel, Mettaton, Undyne, Alphys.. everybody. I only have you left."

Cross pouted. "You were the one who killed them."

"Gaster was controling me!"

Cross rolled his eyes. He knew. It didn't make it hurt less though.

...

"They care about you.. and you care about them." Chara mumbeled.

"They would care about you too, if they knew you existed. Especially Error, he would love you." Cross said. Chara laughed. "I know."

With that, Chara's body disapeard again. Cross sighed. Finally, peace. But..

He didn't want Chara gone. She was the only one who understood.

What was he saying?! Chara killed all of them!

...

Cross didn't know what to think anymore. He started to play with the water again.

Meanwhile, from a distance, a pair of purple eyelights had been watching the skeleton from a distance.

~~~

**2 hours later**

Nightmare sighed, frustrated. Cross still hadn't come out of his room, and it was really worrying him. Then again, it said something. If Cross was this scared to come out, then surely something was wrong with his soul.

Nightmare wasn't the only one who started to get restless. Dust and Horror were so worried, they didn't even continue the game anymore. Killer was trying to read, but he actually wasn't reading a word. He had been staring at the same page for atleast half an hour. Then Error, who was trying to knit, but got himself trapped in the yarn while doing so.

...

"Thats it."

Nightmare got up, the others looking at him. Nightmare shot them a look. "I am not waiting anymore!"

"M-mE neIthEr." Error said, trying to free himself. Killer quickly got up, walked over to Error, and got his knife, cutting the yarn. Horror and Dust got up from the ground, while Nightmare flew upstairs. He knocked on the door.

"Cross. Open the door. _now._"

No anwser. Nightmare groaned and knocked again. "Cross, you can't stay in there forever."

...

"I will break the door open if you don't come out now."

...

"Alright, you asked for it."

Nightmare stepped back, and then stabbed through the door with his tentacles. He trew the door to the side, and walked inside the room.

"Cross!-"

...

Nobody was.. here?

What?

Nightmare froze, eyelight gone. He quickly searched through the room, but couldn't find Cross anywhere. Then it came to his mind.

_He still had the teleporter!_

"GUYS!!!" Nightmare called, flying back downstairs. The gang looked up, seeing Nightmare's worried face.

"Cross is not in his room!" Nightmare said. The others froze, then panicked.

"What?!" Horror asked. Without thinking, he flew into the kitchen. Maybe he went there?

"Cross?!" Horror called. Dust flew upstairs to the bathroom, Killer was helping Error get free.

"I never took the teleporter back, he must have gone somewhere!" Nightmare said panicked.

Once Error was free, he checked the codes of the au. "H-hE is NoT h-hEre." Error informed them.

"What au could he have gone too?!" Dust said. Killer already started listing things.

"His favorite au's were Underswap, Sugartale-"

"He could have gone to any au!" Horror interupted. "There are millions of au's! And don't get me even started on the copies! How are we going to find Cross?!"

Error's eyelights went out at the mention of au's. Then something else came to his mind.

_What if Ink finds Cross before we do?_

~~~

**Doodle Sphere**

Ink sighed as he watched the newest au he had created.

...

He hated it.

Another au filled with pain, Ink didn't want that. But he couldn't focus on anything happy. Couldn't do it for a while.

But he needed to create. The others expected him to. He needed to replace the au's Error destroyed.

_He needed to keep Fate happy._

He flinched harsly at that thought, and quickly got up. He had created enough. He hoped. He really wanted some rest.

Ofcourse, he didn't get it, when Dream came running down.

"Ink!" Dream called. Ink sighed and turned around. "Yeah? Something wrong?"

"Yes." Dream said. "I was just doing my thing when I suddenly felt an extreme amount of negativity in Swapfell." Dream said. "No emotion has changed, so I think its a universal glitch again."

Universal glitch. Those things happend sometimes.

Sometimes, when au's got too close, a random Sans or Papyrus would be trown into a diffrend au. The machines in their au's didn't help, connecting the au's to even make the portals. Sometimes they were able to use the machines that were in the au to get home themself, but other times it had to be Ink who would search for the person and bring them back.

Ink sighed. "The original Swapfell?"

Dream nodded.

Ink swung his paintbrush, and there was a colourfull portal. He stepped through, Dream following from behind.

~~~

Cross sighed as he sat up. Sooner or later he would need to go back. He was sure the gang noticed he was gone. He needed a good excuse.

What was a good excuse?

He didn't have the time to think of one, when randomly a bone was trown at him.

Turning around, Cross faced Swapfell!Sans, Blackberry. 

And he looked mad.

"If you think you can destroy this au, you need to think again!" Blackberry screamed. "This is _my _au!"

Cross froze. Right-

"I.. I am not here to destroy, I was just leaving-" Cross started. Black snarled.

"Everywhere you guys go is destruction! If you think you can harm anyone in my au, you need to think again!"

And with that Blackberry dragged him into a fight.

**Blackberry blocks the way..**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwehehe...
> 
> English is not my first language (or auttocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!


	8. Ink

Cross' eyelights went out when he was dragged into the fight, and he took a step back.

'Calm down.' Cross thought. 'Its still a Sans. He only has 1 HP. You have 15. You can do this.'

...

Who was he kidding? He didn't want to kill!

But maybe he could cause some negativity? That would be the perfect excuse for Nightmare to why he left-

He quickly jumped when bone attacks started to fire at him. Both Blackberry's eyes were glowing blue, throwing normal and blue bones. Cross dodged them all, before it was his turn.

...

Did he want to fight?

_I am created to do work._

...

**You chose fight**

He swung with his knife multible times, the Sans dodging all of it, before Cross summoned some knives, and fired them at him. Chara apeared.

"Why not kill him?"

"No!" Cross thought. It was Blackberry's turn again.

Very large bones were summoned, blue and normal. Cross managed to jump over all of them, before he accidently walked through a blue bone.

**-1HP**

**HP: 14/15**

"Really? 1 Damage?" Chara asked, rolling her eyes. Cross fired some more knives.

~~~

When Ink walked through the portal, he was surprised. No new aura?

Dream walked through. He was also confused. "I.. I felt a new emotion! I am sure of it!"

"Soulless beings have no aura.." Ink mumbeled. He froze.

Soulless.

Cross.

Thats when both of them heard a new attack. Without hesitation, they ran towards the sound.

~~~

"Maybe try fire knives from the ground?" Chara asked as Cross dodged another attack.

"Maybe. But never done it before." Cross answered. Some knives were fired at Blackberry from behind. He had no time to dodge it, and didn't need to. Paint blocked the knives.

Suddenly, they were pulled out of the fight. Ink had a determined yet sad look on his face.

"Swapfell Sans, you leave. I'll take care of it." Ink said sternly.

"But Ink!" Blackberry was about to argue, when Ink shot him a look.

"I am the god of creation. This is my job, not yours. Leave."

...

Blackberry slowly backed away without protest, eyes locked on Cross. Dream quickly catched up to them, bow and arrow ready.

...

None of them attacked.

'Just attack!' Cross thought, trying to fire one of his knives. But it was no use.

_Do I even want to attack?_

Cross could see the paintbrush in Ink's arms shaking. He really was trying to attack, but couldn't.

Dream was confused. Why was nobody attacking?

...

*sigh* "I don't want to fight you Cross. And I can tell you don't want to either."

Cross didn't react to Ink. His eyelights went out, focused on the many paints in Ink's shash. There was one special vial, locked up securly so that nobody could take it.

His soul.

And it was flickering. Not only because it was reacting to his stress. It wanted to go back to its owner. 

Ink had a pained look in his eyes. "Cross.. what happend with you? With Chara? Why did you ever accept Nightmare's deal?"

"You never told me you could get me out." Cross said with an emotionless voice, eyelights still gone.

Ink's own eyelights also dissapeard. "Cross, I tried to get you out, I really did. But your codes were tied to the au. I couldn't get you out of that universe."

"So you left me to rot, just like you did with my au?" Cross snapped.

Dream was confused. What were they talking about?

Ink flinched. "I didn't know Gaster was going to erase the au.." Ink said with a small voice. "If I only knew, I would have done anything to save Xtale Cross."

...

Cross sighed. He knew the creator too well. He knew Ink wasn't lying.

He had to be honest with himself. He didn't hate Ink.

Alright, maybe a little bit. But thats because he keeps getting Error in the way, and made all of their au's suffering au's!

Cross knew Ink had no control of an au once it was created. Ink couldn't choose if it would be a pacifist, neutral, or genocide. That wasn't his fault.

But Dusttale, Killertale, Horrortale. Suffering au's. He didn't think about his own au. That used to be a pacifist au until Gaster destroyed it. He remembered clearly what Ink had explained.

_So, you told me about the timelines." Cross said. Ink nodded. "Pacifist, neutral, genocide. What about them?"_

_"Why did you make my universe a genocidal one..?"_

_Ink's eyelights went out. He had no reply to that._

_"I have noticed the au's." Cross said. "Almost all of them are genocidal universe's. Why do you create so much genocidal au's?"_

_..._

_Ink sighed. "Cross.. your universe was not a genocidal au."_

_At that Cross looked up. He noticed Ink looked guilty._

_"Cross, once an au is created.. I have no control over it." Ink said. "I don't choose if its a pacifist, neutral or genocide. And somehow, the chances of an au being genocidal are way higher then the other options." He curled up, looking away from Cross. "Thats why I created your au. I was trying to find a way to make sure it was a pacifist au. I got a copy of undertale, changed the codes a bit, and then deleted the reset button. I hoped that, if there was no reset, there would be no genocide."_

_Cross frowned. He could understand the logic of that, but.. "what went wrong?" Cross asked._

_Ink sighed. "Nothing. The au was a pacifist au. But I was idiotic enough to trust Gaster. He said he could make the au better. How stupid I was, to trust him. He overwrote the timeline, forcing your Chara into genocide, and deleted the au after."_

...

Cross looked down at the memory. He didn't blame Ink for what happend to his au. He knew the truth about what happend. Why there were so many genocidal au's. He only hated him a little bit because of Error, Dust, Killer and Horror. Why did he ever create those au's..? Why is he trying to stop Error? It was not his fault he was part of the balance.

...

Ink sighed. "I give you 10 seconds to leave before I fight. If you do leave, we will never speak of this again."

...

Cross threw the teleporter on the ground, quickly creating a portal. He looked behind one more time, at Ink. At his soul between the paints.

Ink noticed what he was looking at. "Don't worry. Its safe."

Cross knew it was. He stepped through, the portal closing behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language (or auttocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!!


	9. aftermath

Ink's eyelights were gone. Dream was worried. "Ink..? Why did you let him go? What's wrong?"

...

He couldn't tell. What would Dream think of him?

~~~

"WHERE WERE YOU!?" Killer said the moment he saw Cross. The others were there within a flash, pulling Cross into a hug. Cross was limp, eyelights gone. Nightmare could tell something happened.

"I-it's nothing." Cross said. "I just needed to clear my head.

Nightmare knew his boys better then anyone. He knew Cross was lying. And he could tell the others senced it too.

"What if Ink found you?" Nightmare asked. Cross flinched.

_Yeah.._

"I-I'm sorry." Cross said. Nightmare held his hand out. "I want the teleporter back."

Cross got it out of his pocket, and handed it to Nightmare without a word. He could feel Chara looking at them.

"They won't get angry at you Cross." Chara said. Cross didn't react to her. He wouldn't risk it.

Error was silently looking at them. He knew something was off with the youngest. He could feel something bad had happened.

"Cross." Nightmare said. "We need to talk."

...

"No." Cross said. The others flinched. That was nothing like Cross.. he usually always tried to do what they wanted-

The others froze. Cross always did what they wanted. He never said no. He always did what the gang pleased.

Nightmare rememberd what Cross had said when meeting him.

_"I am made to do work."_

_"Family? I don't have a family. I'm.. alone."_

Their eyelights went out. Only then did they notice Cross' eyelights were gone aswel, barely noticeable shaking.

_He had said no._

_Would the gang hate him now?_

Thats when they understood. Cross was afraid to lose them.

They pulled him into a gentle hug. They could get answers later. This was now more important.

"You don't need to talk if you don't want to." Killer said. Cross flinched harsly at his words, but nodded.

Nightmare felt his fear.

This was.. new.

How had he not noticed before?

He walked around the gang, before wrapping his tenticals around them. He didn't bother inviting Error. He knew the other didn't like contact that much yet.

"Cross, don't talk if you don't want to." Nightmare said. "You have your own will. You can tell if you want. Don't so things to make us happy."

...

"Thank you.." Cross whisperd, hugging his family back. He blinked his tears away.

This was not his real family.

His real family was dead.

The golden locket under his shirt was burning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for this short chapter! I'm trying to make it quicker! 
> 
> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so If you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!!


	10. Strange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am way too lazy at the moment to check for spelling errors.. so I will do that later.

**a week later**

Cross was acting.. different. He was a lott more in his room then usual..

Dust was the first to try something. He knocked on his door. "Cross? Can you come out please?"

...

"I have chocolate!"

"..no thanks."

_what._

Dust was shocked.

~~~

"NIGHTMARE!" Dust screamed the moment he was in Nightmare's office. He looked annoyed at him.

Dust apoligized first, before quickly going on with his panic. "Cross doesn't even want chocolate anymore!!"

That made Nightmare fall of his chair. He did not even take time to get up. "He what?!"

Dust nodded, repeating what he just said.

Nightmare was shocked. But.. that was unheard of! Cross could never resist chocolate, even if it was poisoned!

Something was wrong alright.

~~~

Error had been knitting peacefully when he saw the god of creation. Ink seemed a bit spaced out. His vials.. they were a bit.. dull, to say atleast. Error knew that meant Ink wasn't taking them.

But what surprised him most was that Ink was just walking towards him. Not attacking, his paintbrush was even on his back. Vulnerable.

...

"W-whAt do yOu w-WanT crEat-tOr?" Error decided to just play allong. Not like he could die anyway.

Ink at first didn't say anything. He seemed hesitant, before just asking. "How is Cross?"

Error never wanted to kill Ink more. How dare he-!?

"I-I mean, uhh." Ink started. "After what happend last week, I got kinda worried, and his soul is starting to colour purple- he needs a checkup again-"

_What?_

"W-whaT iN t-tHe worLd ArE yoU T-taLkinG aboUt?" Error asked, sounding confused.

Ink went silent. "..Oh. You don't know?"

_know what?_

Ink was at a loss for words. This had been a stupid idea.

But he couldn't help it. Even if they were the "Dark Sanses" Cross, Dust, Horror and Killer were still his creations.

...

Ink just turned into a puddle of paint, dissapearing.

Error was still confused. He didn't have the time to wonder what just happend as Nightmare called him.

~~~

Nightmare knocked on his door. "Cross?"

No answer. Ofcourse not. 

He knocked again. "Cross?" The gang stood behind him, all worried.

Cross didn't hear any of it. He was playing with his locket, eyelights gone.

**Those people are not my family.**

**My family is de-**

_"Cross."_

Cross jumped. Nightmare sounded a lott more serious now.

Nightmare was confused. He felt the negativity of the youngest, yes. Too much, in fact. But it felt.. faint. Like, it was very far..

Cross still didn't open the door. He curled up.

...

"Cross I'm going in."

Chara shot him a look. "Come on, geez."

Cross didn't react to her. After a moment of silence, Nightmare easilly broke the lock, pocking his head inside. "Cross?"

Cross was curled up on the bed. He had put his locket under his shirt again.

Nightmare's eye was soft. "Cross? Please?"

The skeletons behind him looked worried. They knew something was troubeling him.

Nightmare was about to say something else, when he flinched, pressing his hand against his chest. Above his soul.

In worry for Cross, none of them caused negativity in the multiverse. Now there was too much positivity he needed to get rid off.

Error noticed. "Y-yoU gO NigHt, i-I'lL s-stAy."

No. If Cross stayed, it would prove their point more. That something was wrong. Cross got up. "...can I come too?"

The others looked up. "Cross.. are you sure?"

"Yeah.. I missed causing trouble!" He smiled at them.

All of them already could tell he was lying, but Nightmare was hesitant.

Getting out of the castle could do Cross some good...

...

Nightmare sighed. "You can come too Cross."

Cross' eyelights sparkeled. Nightmare turned to Error.

"_you _on the other hand are staying."

Error pouted. Nightmare rolled his eye.

"You are still injured from yesterday.

...

"F-fInE.." Error whined.

Nightmare smirked, turning to the rest of his gang.

While they did seem a bit exited, Nightmare noticed they all looked worried.

Portal created, walking through.

~~~

**Random au. I couldn't think of a good au to attack XP**

not even 10 minutes after they had attacked the au, Ink and Dream had showed up. The 1 week break seemed to have given them all a bit of strengt, they seemed stronger then before.

The fight was same as always..

...

..which was why Cross couldn't understand why it looked so different.

Had Ink always looked this sad when fighting them?

Cross noticed Dream was about to shoot an arrow at Nightmare, before just.. staying like that. As if he could shoot any moment.

Had Dream always been this hesitant?

Cross froze when he noticed that Dream had tears in his eyes, before blinking them away, shooting an arrow at Nightmare.

_..Did Dream even hate Nightmare?_

Cross stopped attacking. He just observed the way his enemies fought.

Ink looked like he could fall asleep any moment. His paints were a bit.. dull. If his paints started to colour grey, it meant that he wasn't taking them. Ink had told him when he was trapped in the anti-void.

But what reason would Ink have not to take them..?

Then he watched Dream. It seemed to hurt the guardian whenever he managed to hit one of them. Especially Nightmare. Like Ink, Dream had large bags under his eyes.

_...Did they even want to fight?_

Being way too distracted, Killer fired a gaster blaster at Ink, who dodged-

_Then it was heading for Cross._

Killer froze. "CROSS!!!!"

Before Cross had any time to react, he already dissapeard behind the beam of light.

Killer seemed horrified. The others had turned to the sound, fully forgetting their fight.

...

When the lights and magic cleared, there was a wall of paints. When it lowered, Ink stood in front of Cross in a protective way, paintsbrush in hands. His eyes had taken a red ! sign and a target.

"Be more carefull will ya?!" Ink hysterically asked. "You could have hit Cross!!!"

The others were shocked. Did Ink just.. save Cross?

Dust was the first to find his voice back. "Why in the world would you care?!"

Ink's eyelights went out, frowning. He wouldn't admit he still cared about his <strike>only</strike> friend. Who knew what Nightmare would do with Cross then!!

So he just attacked Horror instead. The fight quickly continued.

The others were still confused about what just happend.

A whole fight later, Dream summoned some bones in the air. Since Ink was buzy with all 5 skeletons, he would make it easier. 

**Ping**

**You're blue now!**

All of their souls (exept Nightmare) turned blue.

Exept..

Cross'es soul didn't come out.

All the dark Sanses were frozen. Ink didn't look surprised.

"Dream, I told you blue magic doesn't work on him."

"O-oh.. oh yeah!" Dream wanted to slap himself, having forgotten, before throwing the other 3 in the air.

Nightmare was frozen. 

_How did Ink know that?!_

"You know why his soul isn't reacting?" Nightmare asked in disbelief. Ink looked up.

"Well, duh. I'm pretty sure I know my creations."

Nightmare was shocked. Wait.. Cross was created that way?

He didn't allow relief in his soul just yet. He grabbed the god with his tenticals, looking him right in the eye.

"INK!!"

"Why did you create Cross like that!?"

Ink looked annoyed. "I didn't create him like that. He became like that after he lost his soul-"

_what._

"W-what..?" Nightmare sounded shocked. Ink looked up 

Did seriously nobody know anything?

"..you don't know?" Ink asked.

At this point Nightmare was filled with rage. "Know what?!"

"You didn't know he is soulless?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!
> 
> (Also.. I'm kinda lazy at the moment to check, so.... 😅)


	11. No more secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare has trouble dealing with this new information..

_"You didn't know he is soulless?"_

Nightmare was frozen in place, shock clear in his eye. Ink was staring at him, confused.

"You really didn't know?" Ink did not seem to understand what the big deal was. He was more surprised Nightmare didn't know. Nightmare was controlling them through their souls, Dream had said he could do that! How would Nightmare not know about Cross?

Did Cross join him willingly?

Had they ever been friends?

Ink blinked. Error. Error probably had messed him up when he had attacked them both. That explained it.

...he hoped that explained it.

Meanwhile, Nightmare's world was shattering. Cross, sweet innocent Cross.. That small ball of sunshine.. was _soulless_?

None of the others had heard Ink, they were all too busy fighting Dream.

Ink blinked.

Nightmare remembered with a jolt they were still in a battle. But...

"C-code 404!" Nightmare said. The other 4 looked confused, before all teleported towards Nightmare. Nightmare grabbed them each with a tentical, before he fled.

**Nightmare!Sans has escaped..**

**Dust!Sans has escaped..**

**Killer!Sans has escaped..**

**Horror!Sans has escaped..**

**X!Sans has escaped..**

...

"What was that?" Dream looked confused, but he was thankful for the break. He was exhausted. Both skeletons had been. Not like the break lasted long.

** _Replace the au's._ **

Ink flinched at Fate's voice.

"H-how about you rest Dream? I n-need to look after the au's-"

"I don't have time for a break! I'll help you!" Dream sounded determined.

Who needed sleep these days? Food and rest could wait a bit longer.

* * *

In the hide-out, Error looked up. Why had they returned so early?

"Nightmare?" Killer asked, looking confused. The rest of the gang looked just as lost as him. They hadn't even been losing, what was that about?

"Cross." Chara said. "Nightmare had been talking with Inky."

Cross showed no reaction. It was probably nothing.

"Y-yoU arE b-bAck eArl-Ly." Error put his project down, getting up.

"We fled." Horror sounded just as confused.

"Y-yoU wEre l-lOsiNg?"

"No.. Nightmare called us back." Horror explained. 

"What was that for?" Killer asked Nightmare. No reaction.

...

"Maybe he's hurt?" Dust asked.

"Nightmare? Hurt?"

"You never know-"

And then Nightmare just disappeared.

...

"Something must have happend." Killer said. "There is no way he could be like this out of nowhere."

"He had been fighting Ink." Cross quickly said. "Well.. more like talking..."

"What could Ink have said to mess him up this bad?" Dust asked. There was panic starting to rise in his voice.

Error noticed. "H-hoW aBouT yOu g-GuYs plAy a vidEo g-GamE? I'll t-tAlk wiTh n-NigHt."

...

Killer just pushed them out of the room. "Thanks Error."

Error nodded, walking upstairs.

* * *

"N-niGht?"

Nightmare was sitting against his desk, head buried in his arms. He was too deep in thought to notice the destroyer outside. Error looked concerned.

Something must have happend.

He knocked again. "N-niGhtmaRe?"

...

"T-thAts it. I'm cOminG i-In."

...

Error gently opened the door, peeking inside, seeing the guardian in his chair, head down, tenticals gone. He sighed, walking in.

"N-niGht?"

Nightmare blinked, finally noticing him. He quickly stood straight, a calm expresion on his face again. Too late for that. Error had noticed the shocked and stressed expresion.

"Yes, Error?"

Error closed the door behind him, sitting on his bed. "W-wHat hAppEnd?"

"Huh?"

"W-whaT haPpenD? Why d-Did YoU f-fLeE?" Error raised an eyebrow. 

Nightmare looked away from him. "I just.. got worried about Cross." Yeah, lets go with that. Not like it was a lie.

  


_You didn't know he is soulless?_

  


...

"N-nOw tHe tRuTh?" Error asked, getting off the bed, walking to Nightmare, standing besides him. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

Nightmare seemed to notice, and sighed. He trusted the destroyer.. but.. this was too much information for the already not mentally stable skeleton.

Not like his mental stability was that good either, but it was better then Error's.

...

"DiD i-iNk dO somEthI-inG? Are y-YoU huRt?" Error asked. Nightmare hesitated, but shook his skull. "No, Ink didn't hurt me.."

"S-sO he Did s-sOmetHing?"

Nightmare blinked. Before he sighed. He had walked into that one. Which concerned Error more. Nightmare would never fall for that..

...

"Fine.. but promise you won't tell the others.."

Error agreed.

Nightmare began explaining.

* * *

Error was.. shocked. Soulless. Cross was soulless.

This.. kind off explained Ink the previous day..

  


_"After what happend last week, I got kinda worried, and his soul is starting to colour purple- he needs a checkup again-"_

_"..Oh. You don't know?"_

  


The destroyer then started to tell Nightmare about Ink's.. "concern" the previous day.

Nightmare froze at Error's words.

"..Ink said his soul coloured purple?" A nod.

"But then.. that means.. _Ink_ had his _soul_?"

Error chocked on his breath.

Did Cross know this?!

Why did Ink take his soul away?!

That **_monster-_**

Nightmare hadn't thought it was possible for him to hate the rainbow skeleton even more. But he had been proved wrong..

  


_When the lights and magic cleared, there was a wall of paints. When it lowered, Ink stood in front of Cross in a protective way, paintsbrush in hands. His eyes had taken a red ! sign and a target._

_"Be more carefull will ya?!" Ink hysterically asked. "You could have hit Cross!!!"_

  


  


Now Nightmare was just confused. But then.. why did Ink defend Cross..?

...

He didn't know. But he sure as hell would get answers, one way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry for not uploading for.. a while. I am really losing motivation for everything, and idk why. Anyway, I managed to write another chapter, though I understand if this chapter doesn't make sence.. 😅
> 
> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!


	12. Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare and Error make a plan to get Cross to confirm Ink is telling the truth.

**Next day**

Error had stayed over, which everyone was happy about. Much better then staying in the anti-void with Fate's voice's!

But not for the reason the gang thinks..

In reality, Error stayed over to help Nightmare get Cross talking.

That morning Nightmare made eggs and sausages. While Horror had asked to make breakfast this morning, he hadn't woken up, which was not a surprise to the guardian. Horror was dead to the world if he wanted to be.

The first to wake up, was Nightmare, ofcourse. After going downstairs, he noticed Error in the living room, who was knitting. Sadly, the destroyer hadn't slept, _again, _which Nightmare wasn't surprised about. He would have to ask Dust to put sleeping pills in his chocolate or something.

"So.. how do we confront Cross?" Nightmare broke the silence. Error looked up, before putting the yarn Cross had gotten him on the couch.

"I-i thInk wE sHouLd jUsT stArT s-sLow." Error said. "W-wHen we'Re alOnE?"

"We can 'attack' an au with him to make up for yesterday, then talk."

"W-woN't iNk s-SencE u-Us?"

"Not if we don't attack the au. We can aswel go to a genocidal au to mix our aura with the negativity off the au."

Not to mention, Nightmare actually kinda wanted Ink to show up. He seemed to know a lott. Even.. worried..

He shook his head. No. Ink doesn't care about Cross, he's their enemy for crying out loud. Not to mention Ink was soulless, how was he suposed to be worried? With those fake vials he called emotions?

Cross was one off Ink's creations though..

So were Dust, Horror and Killer. Maybe even Error. The destroyer was a mystery.

Nightmare sighed. They had a plan atleast.

* * *

It took a while, but an hour later everyone was up.

Well.. almost everyone..

The one who was "not trained to be lazy" was always the one to wake up last. Nightmare never understood it. But now he did. A soul gave life and energy. Cross didn't have the soul to give him that, no wonder he always seemed exhausted..

Nightmare started wondering. If Cross was soulless, how was he even alive? He knew Cross didn't have determination. Gaster erased his au, leaving him alone. No DT involved.

Then again, Nightmare didn't know the full story..

"Nightmare?"

Nightmare was dragged away from his thoughts when Dust called him. Noticing he had spaced out, he looked at his boys, seeing they looked worried.

"Dad, are you alright..?" Nightmare smiled a bit at what Horror chose to call him, but that was gone when he noticed the worry.

"You were kinda off yesterday aswel.."

"Sorry.. I'm good, I promise. I just have been thinking."

...

The gang sighed, leaving it at that.

After a couple minutes, Nightmare could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. Cross had finally woken up.

And he felt negativity from the small skeleton.

Yet his emotions felt far.. distant.. as if he wasn't here...

...

How was Cross even feeling emotions..

_20 minutes ago._

Cross was curled up on his bed, whimpering and crying softly. Another nightmare. This time about his time trapped in the void he used to call his home. He was hugging a couple plushies that looked like the gang closely. Error had made those for him as a gift.

"Sans.. this has to stop.."

Cross looked at his Chara with rage.

"Never call me like that again!"

"But thats your name! Yes, you are 'Cross' one off the most feared dark Sanses, but you can't forget who you used to be!" Chara said, sounding sad. "Sans, brother to Papyrus, part off the royal guard, assigned to protect Frisk!"

...

Cross grabbed his necklace. "...I'm not.. him, anymore.. I'm not.. Sans.. I'm Cross.."

"Maybe now. But that doesn't mean you should close off yourself from others and fully forget who you used to be!"

"You really are confusing. First you want me to move on, now to think off the past. What is it?"

...

Chara sighed. "You need to move on.. I need to move on.. but moving on does not mean closing yourself off, or forgetting your other family. That means healing, asking help from those that care about you.. like your new family." Chara smiled sadly.

Cross sighed. Sometimes he forgat Chara was a victim aswel. That she lost her family too. Forced to kill them off. Forced to share a soul with the one she hated most, then lose it. They had grown closer, but still...

He uncurled himself, still hugging the dolls. Like he would ask them for help. He was a dark Sans, dammit! None off the others had problems, so why should he!?

He already was pathetic enough, the only one who didn't have dust on his hands. He sometimes wondered why the gang was even keeping him around. Haven't they gotten tired with him yet?

Taking in a deep breath, he neatly set the dolls onto his bed, before walking to the closet, starting to take off his PJ's to wear his normal clothes. Sometimes he wondered why he was going through the effort to put on his cursed clothing.

* * *

_Present time_

"Morning.." Cross mumbeled, before collapsing onto the couch. Killer chuckled, gently rubbing his skull. "Morning sleepy skull."

Atleast he was finally out off his room.

* * *

_After breakfast cause I really do not feel like writing that-_

Horror, wanting to clean the plates, was with help from Nightmare doing the dishes and cleaning the table. Cross was talking with Dust, Killer was still begging Error to eat something.

"Pleaaaassseeeeee?"

"N-nO k-kIlls. I dOn'T n-NeEd iT."

"Yes you do!"

The other two had given up on begging seven minutes ago. But Killer wasn't going to give up that easy.

...

Nightmare turned his head slightly to look at Error, who nodded a tiny bit. Nightmare sighed.

"So.. there has been a bit too much positivity, and I need to cause some havoc.. Cross, wanna come?"

Cross stopped talking with Dust to look at Nightmare in shock. Him? Out of all people?

"A-aren't the others better to go with y-you?" Cross asked with a shaky voice. Nightmare sighed.

"I want you to come with me."

Nightmare saw Cross glance at his side, before nodding a bit. Why Cross always looked away when deciding something always confused him. But he wouldn't ask.

"Error is coming aswel." Error nodded at Nightmare's statement.

"Okay.."

Cross sounded really scared and uncertain. Yet again, his emotions felt really far, as if he wasn't here.

But he would get him to talk.

* * *

**Doodle Sphere**

Ink seemed blank. Eyelights smaller, duller, eyesockets wider, bags under his sockets and paints looking more grey then colourfull. Ink was looking at his paints. He was going to take them, when his eyes fell on a special vial stashed and hidden between them. He picked it up.

A purple upside down heart with bits of red was hidden carefully in the vial. It seemed weaker.

Cross really needed to be checked by Ink.

Ink had tried to give Cross paints to help him, but Cross declined every time. He sighed, putting it back where it belonged.

He was about to take his paints when Fates voices echoed in his head.

** _"CREATE!"_ **

** _"Replace what has been lost."_ **

He dropped his paints in an instant, not feeling like getting his bones burned today. So he started sketching an au. Another copy. He really couldn't think off anything, let alone when almost blank.

He wanted his head to be silent and empty for once.

God he was tired.

Too caught up in his work, he didn't notice a tiny crack forming on the soul inside the vial, before healing in an instant, glowing like nothing happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!


	13. The fragile soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cross'es soul is more fragile then they thought..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about... seeing the story.. from Ink's perspective?

**Warning: This chapter will have 1 sentence that mentions a failed attempt at suicide. I will underline that sentence so that you can skip it if you feel like you need to skip it.**

**Doodle Sphere**

Ink was staring at the newest copy of Echotale with an empty look in his eyesockets. They weren't colourful or had a unique shape. Two, white, empty dots, lacking life. Just when he wanted to take his paints, he could hear Fate screaming again.

_ **Another one. NOW!** _

_ **CREATE YOU SOULLESS FREAK!** _

...

Ink simply blinked, not a single reaction. Not even once he felt the familiar, red strings on his body, starting to burn him.

Right. Once his paints ran out, he couldn't create anymore. Not because his power was gone, he still had those when blank. It was because without emotion, he couldn't feel motivated or inspired to create. Not caring about what Fate would do to him, not even being able to react to the pain. He heard a sigh.

** _Take your vials._ **

The strings on his body tightend, burning his bones more. He sighed, before walking over to where he left his paints, picking up his shash, and drinking them all, one by one. He was hit by the familiar sensation of <strike>fake</strike> feelings as his eyelights shifted into all different kinds of colours and shapes, before stopping at a light blue circle in one eyesocket, and a yellow star in the other. The moment it stopped, he gasped and cried out as pain crashed into his body at full force, falling on his arms and knees, shaking and whimpering softly. While he was long used to the pain, it still hurt. Thats why he tried to avoid his paints sometimes. He went numb to it, just like his emotions.

_ **Get up.** _

_ **CREATE!!!!** _

He sobbed silently, wishing he hadn't taken his vials. His body hurt too much to move..

** _I wonder which one would scream louder? Blue or Dream? What do you think, Inky?~_ **

That made him gasp as he tried to force himself up. After years of living with the strings, having tried to.. end it, multiple times, with Fate not having allowed it, it became clear Ink didn't care about what happened to him. But he did care about Dream and Blue..

It was against the rules to hurt, control or effect someone else other then their player, but Ink didn't know that. So often Dream and Blue had been used as blackmail material, and worked each time.

With a grunt, Ink pushed himself up, tears streaming down his eyesockets, both from pain and sadness. He just wanted a break..

Silently putting on his shash, he sat down, grabbing another piece of paper, starting to sketch _another _copy. When doing so, his eyes fell upon the single vial he never touched, seeing it glow dimmer. The soul felt weaker aswel. With a frown, Ink carefully took of the lid of the box holding the vial, before slowely pulling it out, holding the vial in front of his face, looking at the fragile soul in the glass.

He watched it crack a tiny bit before healing again.

Ink froze.

Oh no.

** _Oh no._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a really short chapter, and I'm very sorry for that..
> 
> I know what I will do, but needed to make it logical and not rushed, so, I decided for this mini chapter. Its still rushed I think..
> 
> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!


	14. The artist and the enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare and Error go with their plan and confront Cross about his.. "situation"
> 
> A certain artist shows up in a panic..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for any spelling errors or the fact that this chapter feels rushed, its extremely late where I am.

After Nightmare and Horror were done cleaning the plates, Killer finally gave up trying to convince Error to eat. (Which the destroyer seemed very relieved about.) Nightmare and Error were the only ones left in the kitchen, while the rest had gone to the living room. They told the gang they were gonna search for which au to attack. But in reality, they were talking about Cross again.

"-and for incase he teleports, I have an anti-magic bracelet with me. You had given me it in Sciencetale, remember? So- Error?" Nightmare finally seemed to realize Error wasn't listening at all, staring at the door. Nightmare got an annoyed expresion on his face. "Seriously? Error!"

Error flinched harsly, looking at Nightmare, before sighing. "N-niGht. L-lOok." He pointed at the door.

Nightmare looked unimpressed. What was he supposed to see?

He looked anyway.

At first Nightmare didn't see it. The living room seemed normal. Dust and Horror were playing videogames, Killer was reading, and ofcourse Cross was-

...

What was Cross doing?

Cross was just sitting on the couch silently, curled up, hugging his legs close to his chest, not doing anything. And by noticing the looks Killer shot Cross now and then, without the smaller noticing, it was safe to say Killer noticed aswel.

That was.. concerning..

Even though Horror nor Dust didn't look at him, Nightmare could see the concerned looks on their faces. But because they were sitting in front of Cross, in front of the TV, they couldn't look at Cross without looking suspicious. But Nightmare could feel all of their concern.

"N-nIghtmaRe. We n-nEed To dO s-soMetHing. FasT."

Nightmare nodded with a silent sigh, before walking into the living room. Killer was going to close his book, but Nightmare shook his skull. Not yet.

Getting the hint, Killer did as if he didn't notice the midnight skeleton, going back to reading, even though he wasn't reading a single word.

A tentical was gently set on Cross'es shoulder, and the smaller skeleton flinched, before looking at Nightmare.

"Ready?"

Cross again looked away from second, before nodding. Strange..

Error created a portal. Cross got up, and they left.

The moment they were gone, Killer shut his book, and Horror and Dust paused their game.

"They're not telling something.." both skeletons agreed.

"I swear.. they want us to help find his secret, then they won't tell us anything either." Horror groaned, annoyed.

"Nightmare would tell us if its important, right..?"

"Nightmare doesn't tell a lot of stuff, Dust."

~~~

**Earlier**

"They're suspicious Cross.." Chara said silently, floating above his shoulder. "They're gonna figure it out."

Cross sighed. He couldn't answer Chara, the other three were here. Chara rolled her eyes.

"I wish I could read your mind."

Cross wished so too. Talking with Chara would be much easier. Then again, he didn't want her to know all of his thoughts, so maybe it was a good thing she couldn't.

Cross flinched when something cold suddenly touched his shoulder. Looking up, he noticed Nightmare, looking at him with a gentle eye.

"Ready?"

Cross looked over at Chara, who nodded. After that, Cross nodded himself.

Nightmare let go of his shoulder. Error created a portal, and they left.

* * *

**Undertale, timeline 77**

**Status: destroyed**

The moment they were in the au, Cross knew something was wrong. Why?

Well, the au was dead. How were they supposed to spread negativity in a dead au?

He looked around. "Nightmare..? I think we should go to another au.. there is no one here.."

"I know."

He didn't have time to react, before Nightmare's tentical grabbed his arm, and something was put on his wrist. Cross froze in shock, before trying to get free. Nightmare wouldn't hurt him. He wouldn't. Nightmare was like a father..

"N-Nightmare?" His voice was small when he spoke, Cross hated how weak he sounded. Nightmare sighed again, and let go.

"We're not here to destroy an au."

Error crossed his arms. "W-we'rE herE To t-Talk."

"Talk? About what?" Cross didn't dare to move, looking at Nightmare silently. The guardian sighed again. 

"...Ink told us, Cross.."

Cross felt his bone marrow turn cold. His eyelights went out. "T-told you w-what?"

Both skeletons seemed to hesitate, before Nightmare spoke again.

"We know you're soulless.."

Cross felt something shatter.

* * *

**Doodle Sphere**

Ink was having a lot of trouble ignoring the screaming voices of Fate, but he just needed to... 

A lott of paints, in all different shades and colours, were floating around him, the tiny vial with the soul in his hands. Ink had no idea what to do.

To heal the soul, he needed Cross. But Cross simply refused to even look at the vial.

But if he didn't do something now Cross would die!

Ink took in a shaky breath, before taking a sip of his light blue vial. Patience. Calmness. He really needed to stay calm right now.

Ink knew they were enemies, but still. He didn't want Cross to die! He didn't want any of them to die! He could have simply erased them out of existence if he wanted to-

_"Stop. I'm thinking like Fate." _Ink took another deep breath, looking at the soul. He couldn't take out the soul without Cross, who knew what would happen if he did that. The slight chance that X!Gaster would appear? Nope, he wasn't risking that.

What to do...

Could he talk with Nightmare? Ink shook his skull. No, why would Nightmare care? Cross was nothing more then another puppet.

Core? Ink wasn't sure, but that could be his plan B-

A sickening cracking sound made Ink freeze. Looking at the soul again, he could a see another, _large _crack on its surface.

_It wasn't healing-_

Oh no. 

No.

Nononononon**nononono_nonono-_**

Ink was freaking out at this point. His paints returned to his shash at once, and he quickly (but gently) put the soul back in his shash aswel. Within a second, he teleported to the main room of the doodle spear, where all the au's were. He couldn't wait anymore, he waited for too long. He should have never taken away Cross'es soul in the first place.

Cross needed his soul back.

_Now._

But how to find him-?!

...

Ink silently looked over at his paints, before taking the vial with the soul out again, watching it glow. He pointed it at a piece of paper. The glow dimmed. He pointed it at another one. It glew stronger.

...

Ink sighed. Hopefully he was right about this...

* * *

Cross didn't know what to say, all he did was stare at Nightmare and Error in shock, eyelights fully gone. "U-uh.. I.. I-I.."

"Cross.." Nightmare's voice was gentle. He silently took a step forward towards the small skeleton. "Is this true?"

Cross didn't know what to say. He couldn't admit the truth, but he also couldn't lie. So he was left to just stare at him. 

The silence that grew was answer enough. Shock was clear on both of the skeletons faces.

Somewhere, they had hoped it had been a lie. A lie from the artist, just to mess with them. But feeling his negative emotions grow, the deadly silence.. they had their answer.

"..why didn't you say anything?" Nightmare's voice was gentle, yet stern. No. For Cross to hide _this, _for who knew how long. Who knew what kind of effects this had on the short skeleton. How was he feeling? How was he not dead?!

Whoever, before Cross could even answer, the familiar magic of a portal was there for a second, a yell right after.

"CROSS?!?!?!?!?"

All three the dark Sanses froze, and Nightmare got into a protective state within a second, Error and Cross right besides each other as Nightmare stood in front of them, and shielded them with his tenticals. There was an angry and threatening expresion on his face, but then, he realized. Cross'es emotions were much more clearer, stronger, then it had been seconds ago.

"CROSS?!!?!??!?!?!"

It didn't take long for Ink to find them, a puddle of Ink flashed over the floor, before the form off the artist took shape again. Nightmare's tenticals sharpened, looking dangerous and threatening as he growled under his breath. Error got the same protective feeling, ready to fight if needed. Ink did not seem to care. His eyes were on Cross, holding something tightly in his hands..

Cross regonized the file. He silently took a step back.

"Look I know were enemies and all, but you need to take back your soul, _NOW!" _Ink said panicked, making Error and Nightmare freeze. Cross'es eyelights went out.

"W-what are you talking about-"

"You're telling me that the almighty lord of darkness does not know you're soulless?!" Ink freaked out. "Wouldn't Error atleast remember?!"

Cross wanted to kill him. Chara was freaking out aswel.

Ink seemed to realize neither skeletons knew anything. "....SERIOUSLY!?" He burst out, his eyelights taking the shape of a target sign and a warning sign, one red, the other yellow. Nightmare was too shocked to even try to even think about fighting as Ink held up the vial.

A red, purple, white, _upside down, __damaged, _soul. 

"If you don't take this back now, you will die!"

Cross stepped forward, starting to sound angry. "You told them I'm soulless and now show them _that?!"_

"How was I supposed to know they didn't know?!"

"You should have never brought it up Ink!"

"Your soul is shattering!"

Both skeletons continued to fight, not as if they were enemies, but had known each other for a good while. Error was at a loss for words, staring at the damaged soul. 

** _"Wouldn't Error atleast remember?!"_ **

What was that supposed to mean?

Nightmare was meanwhile staring at the soul aswel, shock and self anger growing in his soul, because the emotions he felt from that vial, the magic, it was _clearly _Cross'. In the vial, it was weak, but much stronger then what he usually felt from the younger.

"I am NOT taking that thing back! No way! Not after all that!"

"Do you know how lucky you even are to _have _a soul?!"

"Not my fault you're just a **_soulless freak_**!"

Ink's eyelights went out for a second, before returning. But they weren't bright or colourful shapes, they were two, white, small dots. Cross seemed to freeze when he realized what he just said, remembering how sensitive that spot was for the creator.

"..thats right. I am. But that doesn't mean that you have to be." 

Ink silently placed the vial on the ground, before getting up again. He looked at Nightmare with a serious, yet empty expresion on his face. "Just so you know. If he doesn't absorb that, he _will _die, sooner or later. I can't heal it without taking it out, but I can't take it out without him absorbing it. If you decide to keep him alive, you know where to find me."

A rainbow portal, and he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!!


	15. The vial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The god and guardian are so confused...  
The artist is blank once again..  
Good thing Nightmare is fine.  
He is totally okay. Totally calm. He is fine.
> 
> Seems like keeping it together is something both twins can do..

. . .

. . .

. . .

They all watched the ground in shocked silence for atleast four minutes. Nightmare was the first to do something. Eye not leaving the vial once, he slowely started to walk towards where the artist had just stood a couple minutes ago. Cross, not having recovered from his shock, didn't do anything to stop him. Once Nightmare stood in front of the vial, he kneeled down, and gently, _very gently, _picked up the tiny glass. He stood up fully, looking sternly yet concerned and gentle, so, so _gentle, _at the tiny, <strike>weak</strike> pulsing heart he was holding in his hand. It was weak, he could feel how weak its magic was, tired of using magic, to keep its owner alive. Granted, if it weren't for the vial, it would have shattered long ago.

Then again, it _was _fused with a _human_ soul, it had all the reasons to be tired. 

Nightmare gently, yet sternly, inspected the vial, regonizing three different magic signatures. Two which he could regonize. Cross, he clearly felt his youngest magic, weak, tired. The second was.. a Chara? Since when did humans have magic? Why was the human's soul fused with his? But, he regonized the human as a Chara, seeing as this determination was dead. The 3rd.. he had no idea who's that could have been. But the important thing, was that he definitely felt Cross'es magic. 

The soul's magic gently pulsed in and out of view, feeling weaker each second, before a magic spike came, mixed with determination to not get damaged any further, managing to keep themself alive. Determined not to die.

It needed a body. Something to hold it together, to keep it strong, to get things like air and food. It _had _an owner. (Three different ones?) It just wasn't with it. Nightmare's eye softened, yet became more concerned.

No doubt, that atleast a 3rd of it, was Cross'es soul.

Slowely, so very slowey, he turned around, holding the vial gently with both of his hands, his eye incredibly soft. He silently stared at his youngest. "..Cross..?"

Cross wasn't moving, barely breathing of how tense he was, eyelights gone, not making a single sound. This was nothing like the happy Cross the gang had gotten used to.

But something else was different. 

Nightmare swore he saw a shadow moving behind said skeleton.

_"THIS IS A FREAKING DISASTER HOW WILL WE FIX THIS OH GOD WE CAN'T FIX THIS WHAT DO I DO WHATDOIDO-"_

While Cross was trying to progress what was happening, Chara was freaking out completely. Yeah, sure, she had suggested to tell the gang about them being soulless.

** _She hadn't meant taking the soul back! _ **

What if they found out about _her_ now?! Chara knew how much the gang hated the Frisk's for the genocide, no doubt they hated the Chara's aswell! They would kill her! She didn't want to die! She wanted to stay! She cared about the gang in her own way, even if they didn't know she existed. She.. she didn't want to be alone again.. 

Just as slow, Error walked over next to where Nightmare was, taking a second to look at the vial. Why.. why did it seem so familiar.. why was it like he had seen it before? 

"...Cross." Nightmare spoke just as gently again, gently touching the tip of the vial. Testing his theory, he held his arm out, pointing it towards Cross. The soul glew much, much brighter the moment it could feel him. When Nightmare pulled the vial away from him, the glow dimmed again. 

"..we need to talk." 

* * *

**Doodle Sphere**

Dream was waiting worriedly for Ink to return to the doodle spear. He usually avoided the Doodle Sphere at all costs, he didn't feel comfortable by the possibility that his <strike>dead</strike> au was still there, watching, wondering why he had failed. All the worlds he failed to save..

Dream shook his skull. He hadn't known what to think when Core suddenly contacted him, Core _never _does that unless something terribly, terribly is going on, and apparently it was enough to put Ink into hysterics, so it must be bad.

Then again, Ink freaked out easily..

The sound of a portal opening snapped him back to reality, and Dream quickly turned around, immediately noticing that the artist had gone blank.

That was strange, hadn't Ink taken his vials before he left?

"Ink?" Dream quickly got up, walking over. The portal behind Ink closed, and the god fully ignored the guardian of positivity. "No time. Au's." His voice was just as blank as the rest of him, and Dream kinda got scared when this happened. Still, he ignored his fear. Ink needed his help. He wouldn't fail anyone else he cared about.

Dream shook his head again, trying to get rid of his negative thoughts- he was the guardian of positivity for goodness sake- and grabbed his cape for comfort. "Ink. Core said you left the doodle spear in a panic. What happened?"

. . .

The silence felt so heavy, Dream felt like he might suffocate. But Ink was unbothered by it.

"..."

"Can you take your vials, Ink? You're kinda freaking me out.."

"No thank you." 

?!

Okay now Dream was freaking out. Ink, refusing to take his vials?! That was _not _normal. The artist always took as much of his vials as he possibly could, wanting to feel as normal as was possible for him. Why would Ink suddenly want to be blank?!

"Don't you have au's to patrol." It sounded like Ink was stating it more then asking, but that was normal if he when he was like this. Ink turned to look him in the eyes, his lifeless eyelights giving Dream the creeps. "Au's to make happy. You know, your job."

Dream tried to ignore the pit in his stomach once hearing that. No, he shouldn't blame Ink, he didn't mean it, he was just not feeling anything, it would be fine once Ink took his paints again.

But if Ink refused to take his paints on his own.

Then Dream simply would have to use force.

"Sorry Ink.. this is for your own good." With a war cry, Dream jumped on top of Ink, pinning him down, trying to get the artist to take the paints on his shash. "Take your paints!!"

"No." Ink was trying to struggle, but the guardian could be strong if he wanted to be. Not caring which vial he took, Dream managed to grab a paint and force Ink to drink it. Dream felt relieved. Good. Atleast _one_ emotion, Ink would now probably take the rest, right?

Dream regretted it once he saw which paint he had just forced into him.

Light pink.

Love.

Ink seemed in a daze, eyelights flickering between a light pink hearts and lifeless, white dots. Dream groaned to himself. Oh great, why that one? 

_"Good job, Dream! What a great guardian you are."_

Dream didn't hesitate to put another colour into his mouth before Ink could protest, wanting his emotions to function properly and stay in balance.

God, this was so weird.

* * *

...

Cross seemed to shrink into himself, his eyesockets going downward, showing he was sad as he attempted to hide away in his scarf. Chara's screaming was _not _helping. 

"THIS WAS THE _LAST _THING YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DO, GOD, WHY DOES INK ALWAYS HAVE SUCH TERRIBLE TIMING?!" Chara freaked out to herself. "WHY, DEAR LORD, WHY-"

"Can you shut up?" Cross muttered under his breath, his negative emotions growing, Nightmare feeling it way too clearly now. The emotions Cross felt, he could feel them in his hands. But not only Cross.

Nightmare was certain there was a second person, and whoever they were, he could feel them from Cross'es soul, they were freaking out.

...

Cross whined silently to himself when he heard footsteps approaching him, a tall shadow suddenly towering over him. He could already tell it was Nightmare, Error wasn't tall. 

"Cross." Nightmare gently repeated his name. "Why didn't.. wh.. whats.. whats wrong?" Nightmare was struggling to find his words, which was shocking. Cross hadn't wanted that. He took in a deep breath, preparing to tell Nightmare he was fine, he _was _fine, when-

** _CRACK!_ **

Cross screamed at the sudden, blinding pain he felt, Nightmare and Error looked horrified at the soul, which had cracked again. But a light red light came from the crack, and just as quick as it came, it was gone. 

No wonder Ink had been freaking out.

**You are filled with Determination!**

Cross was gasping and whimpering, hands holding his scarf tightly, oh god that had hurt so much!

He couldn't spot Chara. No doubt, she hadn't been able to keep her form, and had vanished. That was okay. She was still here. Cross just couldn't see her. But he could feel her.

Error fully glitched out, eyesockets filling up with Error signs, error signs on his body multiplying, not getting single, normal sound out, his voice sounding like static as he started to crash.

**System reboot..**

Okay, Nightmare was the only one not freaking out. 

But honestly, he was lost. What to do-

Okay. Cross. Error would be fine, he couldn't do anything to help him, Nightmare knew that, so lets focus on Cross. He was obviously pain, and who knew what would happen to the soul if he panicked again. He could feel how tired the soul was, the one thing keeping it together stubborn, refusing to die.

Nightmare did the only thing he could think of.

A tentical touched the back his skull, magic hitting him like a wave. Cross felt a familiar magic enter his system. With how tired he was already, he passed out within a second. Nightmare was quick to catch him in his arms, holding the vial now with a tentical. Nightmare looked from Cross to Error, before looking at the soul.

This was much worse then he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!


	16. Lying is not your strong suit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neither Nightmare nor Ink are good at lying... well, under this much pressure, that is..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the extremely late update, a lot is going on and my mind refused to work..

The gang wasn't sure what to think when Nightmare appeared with an unconcious Cross and a glitching Error. Noticing the lack of wounds, they already knew they had not gone to spread negativity. Killer quickly got of the couch to make room for Error, and Nightmare quickly let him go on the couch to not trigger his haphephobia any further. He hadn't wanted to grab Error in the first place, but he couldn't just leave him like that. 

Dust and Horror quickly paused their game, turning around to look at what was happening. Horror froze, Dust became pale.

So Nightmare _did _hide something from them!

"....why is Cross passed out?"

"One of Dream's arrows knocked him out." Nightmare huffed, holding Cross gentler in his arms.

...

"You're lying." Killer dared to say, crossing his arms. The other two froze in shock, did Killer want to die?!

Nightmare looked at him sternly, but Killer frowned. "None of you have any injuries on you, nor is your magic lower- in fact, yours is stronger right now." He looked Nightmare sternly in the eye. "Your lying is sloppy. So you're stressed. And whats that strange bottle you failed to hide?"

Nightmare flinched, the tentical that was holding the vial quickly retreating behind his back. Killer was sharper then he thought...

"Well?" Killer crossed his arms, Dust and Horror getting up to stand besides him. Seems like after Killer pointing it out, they noticed too... it.. _felt _like magic..

.......

"Later. I'll explain it, I promise, can you for now get Cross to his room?" Nightmare asked with a sigh. 

.......

_"Fine. _But you better explain later." Killer said with a glare, taking Cross from Nightmare's arms. Had Cross always been this light? Although he noticed how cold Cross was to his touch, he shrugged it off, as Nightmare had just been holding him. Gently, Killer picked the smaller up, holding him bridal style in his arms. "Dust, Horror, could you help? His clothes are hard to take off.."

The other two laughed. "How does he put that on every single day?"

"TrAiNinG."

Now they all laughed. Horror and Dust teleported to get to Cross'es room as Killer walked behind them, not wanting to use magic, afraid of scaring the other. Nightmare watched them, before looking at Error, relief filling his soul as he noticed Error wasn't glitching anymore. He was passed out on the couch.

While usually he would have put a blanket on him, Nightmare knew better then to trigger his haphephobia until making sure Error could handle it.

...

He looked at the vial in his hands again, noticing the soul looked more dim then just moments ago. But brighter at the same time....

Nightmare frowned. Was.. was this really _Cross' _soul? It.. it possibly couldn't be... it was red, purple _and _white. Sure, he felt Cross' magic, aswel as a _Chara _(since when did humans have magic?) He didn't want to believe this heart actually belonged to his youngest.

Well.. he had a couple ways of finding out...

* * *

"JUST **_*pant* _**TAKE. YOUR. PAINTS!" Dream pushed the last paint into the other's mouth before he could protest. Dream had Ink pinned to the ground on his stomach, arms trapped underneat his stomach as Dream was sitting on top of him, pinning him down. Relief filled his soul once he saw the shapes and colours flash through the artist's eyes, before stopping at an orange triangle and a blue waterdrop. Dream sighed, smiling. "See? That wasn't so hard-" he stopped the moment he noticed Ink was crying.

"..Ink?"

"M-must have o-overdosed on s-sadness.."

Dream suddenly understood why Ink had wanted to stay blank. "We both know thats not true... you would have started crying to moment you had drank light blue if you did.." Dream got of his best friend, before gently trying to help him sit up. "Whats wrong?"

"..Don't wanna bother you.."

"You wouldn't be bothering me. We're friends, Ink. I want to help you."

...

"..help with what?" Ink sounded tired. Really tired. "Not like I can actually _feel _anything. How am I supposed to? I'm just nothing more then a soulless freak-"

_"No." _Dream sounded dead serious, pulling on Ink's shoulders to look him in the eye. "Thats not true.. you being soulless doesn't make your emotions any less real.."

...

"...did you get yelled at by another au again?"

...

"....I really tried to save Xtale.. _*hic*_" Ink hiccuped as he curled up. Another downside to their job. Just as much as they saved au's, there were many The Star Sanses had failed to save. If there was still a piece of the au left, Ink could rebuilt to world with no problem, bring everyone back.

But not everyone was understanding...

"Oh, Ink..." Dream hugged him gently from behind, holding him close. "That au was not your fault.-"

"I trusted Gaster. I was a freaking _idiot _and trusted that.. that.. _thing_, just because I felt bad- and now, now the only person left alive might not even he alive anymore.." he sobbed. "I don't understand.."

"Understand what?"

"He's the enemy.. I shouldn't feel so bad for him.. why does it hurt so _much_?"

"Because no matter how bad they become, they'll always be someone you once cared about very much.." Dream informed with experience. "No matter how bad they become.. you can't stop caring for them.."

"Emotions are confusing.." Ink whined, trying to get rid of his tears. Dream hummed in agreement.

Dream waited a couple minutes, until he noticed Ink wasn't crying anymore. He didn't pull away yet, but gently wiped his tears away with his his cape. "Feel better?"

Ink thought for a second, before nodding. Dream smiled. "Good. You know I'm always here for you, right? And so is Blue! We love you!"

Ink laughed, suddenly pulling Dream into a hug again, eyelights having taken shape of a yellow star and blue square. "Y-yeah! I love you guys too!"

"Awww!" Dream hugged back. "Speaking of Blue- wanna visit him in Underswap? Its been a while since we saw Blue, and I think we could use a break."

Ink went silent. "But I need to watch over the au's.."

** _"You need to create."_ **

Dream seemed to read his mind. "You already created enough. If an au was in danger, you or I would feel it. Besides, Nightmare already attacked an au yesterday, I doubt that he would attack so soon. Atleast not for another couple days."

"But!-"

"Yes, you're a god. Doesn't mean you don't need rest." Dream looked at him. "I could easily say the same thing, being a guardian. But I don't. I'm sure Blue is worried, we haven't seen him for quite a while. So how about we go watch a movie with him or something?"

...

"...that sounds nice.." Ink smiled again, and Dream smiled back brightly as he got up, holding out his hand to help his friend up. He was about to create a portal, when he rememberd something.

"Oh, and, Ink?"

"Hm?"

"Your emotions are as real as ours." Dream smiled. "Even if you have to take paints to feel them. You take all paints, every single day, as much as you can. You feeling like this is normal. It doesn't make your emotions any less real."

...

"...Thank you, Dream." Ink smiled.

"Ofcourse.."

A golden portal, and they were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I am so so sorry for such a late update, there is just so much going on right now and its like I forgat how writing works. I have ideas. But it just won't appear on the paper-
> 
> Again, I am so so sorry, I will try to update sooner..
> 
> Also, its my birthday soon! I just wanted to put that out there- QwQ
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! And please, you do not have to apoligize for making long comments! I love long comments and its not a problem at all! ^w^
> 
> English is not my first language (or autocorrect ruins my life) so if you see any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me!!


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